Code Hero creator Alex Peake says he's working to bring the website back online and get a new alpha version ready for release.

Code Hero, the troubled Kickstarter project that promised to teach players how to make games, appears to be in trouble again. Problems first came to light in December 2012 when he admitted that the $170,000 raised - well over the $100,000 goal - wasn't enough to get the job done. Backers began to worry that Peake had taken their money and abandoned the project, but he was able to smooth the waters with a statement apologizing for his absence and promising better communication in the future. An alpha version of the game was released and Peake posted multiple Kickstarter updates in February 2013 and then one in March. But now it appears that trouble has returned.

The Primer Labs website, the home of Code Hero, went offline a couple of days ago, and users have been reporting that the Code Hero alpha is no longer accepting logins, although one person claimed earlier today that the "guest mode" is still functioning. Comments on the Code HeroKickstarter page haven't been flowing as fast and furious as they did in December but they seem more universally critical: Dustin Deckard, who spearheaded the December backlash, noted that Peake "has been totally MIA (hiding?), not returning calls, emails, comments, Kickstarter messages, Twitter, or even official letters via post," while another commenter wrote that the project "is clearly a scam at this point."

Peake has thus far not responded to emailed inquiries but he did post three messages on Kickstarter earlier this evening, again apologizing for the lack of communication. "We're working to get the site back online as soon as possible and a new alpha release with it," he wrote. "We're also securing additional developers and funding to fulfill shirt rewards and accelerate development. The first beta will be released September 1st and we'll make a full announcement and Q&A on the site when we get it back online."

Since that message was posted, the primerlabs.com website has returned, although only with a default site page.

UPDATE: In an email sent early this morning, Peake reiterated yesterday's Kickstarter update, saying that the site went down because of a "mixup" and that when it comes back, the current Code Hero alpha will begin working again. He also committed to a beta release on Sept. 1, "so schools can use it in classes."

"I understand people are frustrated by the lack of communication," he wrote. "We'll be back online with a clarifying announcement and release of the roadmap ahead to beta."

Oooo, I can see some outcry coming from this, especially after the whole Broken Age thing. Still, I do hope that more people will begin to realize that Kickstarter is not a glorified preorder system, but an investment system designed to get a game or other project off the ground rather than to fully fund it in one go.

I do wish them the best though. Would suck to see any project that people poured their hearts / money into crash and burn.

I've learned a lesson recently about automatically demonizing publishers, at the very least they keep a crew within budget or make sure there's a damned good reason for raising it. When you give creative butterflies hundreds of thousands of dollars with ordinary people to answer to, things can get out of hand quickly, even if you're Tim Schafer apparently.

I like how people quickly jump to the scam claim when kickstarter projects go bad. The guy has clearly been trying to get the project on stable ground and if at this point it turns out he just can't do it then it's not a scam but a failed business venture.

Like it's been said before, kickstarter is not a pre-order system. When you give an indie dev your money you are making an investment into a product that may or may not ever see the light of day. If the project caves after development gets underway then it's not a scam. If you're one of the people who invests an ungodly sum of money into these kinds of projects then you need to suck it up like the investor you are and accept that you just flushed a whole lot of money down the toilet with the only potential return having been a non-profit kudos from the developer.

The moral of the story is, don't fund things on kickstarter because there is no financial gain in being an investor there. Burning money in a trashcan is a better investment than funding something on kickstarter; at least then you can use the ashes to make a "Will work for food" sign.

Also, here is a quote from his bio page (which was wiped a few weeks ago, then went down at the same time the Code Hero page went down).

"When a BBS shutdown and a hard drive crash destroyed his 7th grade business, he dreamed bigger and decided to finish school to focus on developing the game. He entered the University Hill Transition Program to complete grades 8-12 in 2 years as he began planning a learning game called Empowerment that would revolutionize education. He began studying artificial intelligence to create a new kind of game AI that could mentor players learning real skills. He got into Berkeley with an essay about game AI as the key to a learning games revolution, but he decided to skip student loans and hire the PHDs he would need later with the profits he earned working as a programmer and investing in Apple stock."

V da Mighty Taco:Oooo, I can see some outcry coming from this, especially after the whole Broken Age thing. Still, I do hope that more people will begin to realize that Kickstarter is not a glorified preorder system, but an investment system designed to get a game or other project off the ground rather than to fully fund it in one go.

I do wish them the best though. Would suck to see any project that people poured their hearts / money into crash and burn.

<joke> Unless you're EA, of course. XD </joke>

Captcha: "hot-blooded"

Honest truth, I don't see any problem with Broken Age for now.They will just make game in two parts, the first part will release so they get enough money for the second part.Plus the bakers will get the second part for free also, like the first part.But of course even I say that and I have faith to Double Fine, I hope to not disappoint me and ask MORE money in the future....

OT:I hope for the guy that created "Code Hero" to be able to find a solution for so many problems he have.....

V da Mighty Taco:Oooo, I can see some outcry coming from this, especially after the whole Broken Age thing. Still, I do hope that more people will begin to realize that Kickstarter is not a glorified preorder system, but an investment system designed to get a game or other project off the ground rather than to fully fund it in one go.

I do wish them the best though. Would suck to see any project that people poured their hearts / money into crash and burn.

<joke> Unless you're EA, of course. XD </joke>

Captcha: "hot-blooded"

Honest truth, I don't see any problem with Broken Age for now.They will just make game in two parts, the first part will release so they get enough money for the second part.Plus the bakers will get the second part for free also, like the first part.But of course even I say that and I have faith to Double Fine, I hope to not disappoint me and ask MORE money in the future....

OT:I hope for the guy that created "Code Hero" to be able to find a solution for so many problems he have.....

I always question how the kickstarter model works out. You get all the people who are interested in your game to kickstart it, they already have a copy. Who is left to buy the game afterwards?

V da Mighty Taco:Oooo, I can see some outcry coming from this, especially after the whole Broken Age thing. Still, I do hope that more people will begin to realize that Kickstarter is not a glorified preorder system, but an investment system designed to get a game or other project off the ground rather than to fully fund it in one go.

I do wish them the best though. Would suck to see any project that people poured their hearts / money into crash and burn.

<joke> Unless you're EA, of course. XD </joke>

Captcha: "hot-blooded"

Honest truth, I don't see any problem with Broken Age for now.They will just make game in two parts, the first part will release so they get enough money for the second part.Plus the bakers will get the second part for free also, like the first part.But of course even I say that and I have faith to Double Fine, I hope to not disappoint me and ask MORE money in the future....

OT:I hope for the guy that created "Code Hero" to be able to find a solution for so many problems he have.....

I always question how the kickstarter model works out. You get all the people who are interested in your game to kickstart it, they already have a copy. Who is left to buy the game afterwards?

There are lots of projects I'm interested in, but feel could turn out badly. Star Citizen, for instance. If it turns out that Star Citizen is a modern masterpiece, or just "really good", I'll shell out for a copy. There are LOTS of people like me, such as people who dislike the idea of being promised something for their money but there's a very real chance of not getting it.

The only Kickstarter I've backed was the Torment one, simply because they got ALL the related nerd superstars on the project. ALL of them. It can't go wrong.

This honestly doesn't seem like a 'scam' to me so much as it seems like someone trying to undertake all roles in a project or company and predictably failing at some of them. It seems like he needs at least one person to head his PR, keep the backers informed etc. because he simply isn't capable of it.

Its hard to tell if there's anything wrong with his project obviously, but there is pretty clearly something wrong with his organizational skills.

V da Mighty Taco:Oooo, I can see some outcry coming from this, especially after the whole Broken Age thing. Still, I do hope that more people will begin to realize that Kickstarter is not a glorified preorder system, but an investment system designed to get a game or other project off the ground rather than to fully fund it in one go.

I do wish them the best though. Would suck to see any project that people poured their hearts / money into crash and burn.

<joke> Unless you're EA, of course. XD </joke>

Captcha: "hot-blooded"

Honest truth, I don't see any problem with Broken Age for now.They will just make game in two parts, the first part will release so they get enough money for the second part.Plus the bakers will get the second part for free also, like the first part.But of course even I say that and I have faith to Double Fine, I hope to not disappoint me and ask MORE money in the future....

OT:I hope for the guy that created "Code Hero" to be able to find a solution for so many problems he have.....

Truth is I don't have much of a problem with BA either, particularly because I've always had the impression that Kickstarter wasn't meant to fund games in their entirety, but to either give them the boost needed to get production started or in cases like FTL help a near-complete game finish up production. A kick-start, as it were.

Still, many people have had an issue with it and that could cause some serious backlash here, which was my main point.

V da Mighty Taco:Oooo, I can see some outcry coming from this, especially after the whole Broken Age thing. Still, I do hope that more people will begin to realize that Kickstarter is not a glorified preorder system, but an investment system designed to get a game or other project off the ground rather than to fully fund it in one go.

I do wish them the best though. Would suck to see any project that people poured their hearts / money into crash and burn.

<joke> Unless you're EA, of course. XD </joke>

Captcha: "hot-blooded"

Honest truth, I don't see any problem with Broken Age for now.They will just make game in two parts, the first part will release so they get enough money for the second part.Plus the bakers will get the second part for free also, like the first part.But of course even I say that and I have faith to Double Fine, I hope to not disappoint me and ask MORE money in the future....

OT:I hope for the guy that created "Code Hero" to be able to find a solution for so many problems he have.....

Truth is I don't have much of a problem with BA either, particularly because I've always had the impression that Kickstarter wasn't meant to fund games in their entirety, but to either give them the boost needed to get production started or in cases like FTL help a near-complete game finish up production. A kick-start, as it were.

Still, many people have had an issue with it and that could cause some serious backlash here, which was my main point.

Yep, especially the people that paid 10.000 dollars.....If I had paid this amount of money, yep, I would be slightly mad....

Honest truth, I don't see any problem with Broken Age for now.They will just make game in two parts, the first part will release so they get enough money for the second part.Plus the bakers will get the second part for free also, like the first part.But of course even I say that and I have faith to Double Fine, I hope to not disappoint me and ask MORE money in the future....

OT:I hope for the guy that created "Code Hero" to be able to find a solution for so many problems he have.....

Truth is I don't have much of a problem with BA either, particularly because I've always had the impression that Kickstarter wasn't meant to fund games in their entirety, but to either give them the boost needed to get production started or in cases like FTL help a near-complete game finish up production. A kick-start, as it were.

Still, many people have had an issue with it and that could cause some serious backlash here, which was my main point.

Yep, especially the people that paid 10.000 dollars.....If I had paid this amount of money, yep, I would be slightly mad....

I seriously can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. No offense, of course. Care to clear it up for me?

Truth is I don't have much of a problem with BA either, particularly because I've always had the impression that Kickstarter wasn't meant to fund games in their entirety, but to either give them the boost needed to get production started or in cases like FTL help a near-complete game finish up production. A kick-start, as it were.

Still, many people have had an issue with it and that could cause some serious backlash here, which was my main point.

Yep, especially the people that paid 10.000 dollars.....If I had paid this amount of money, yep, I would be slightly mad....

I seriously can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. No offense, of course. Care to clear it up for me?

I mean about the Code Hero Kickstarter.I checked and there are people they pledged 10.000 dollars because they believed it will be finished.Think how mad they would be. I would.

I just don't know what people are thinking. At no point did anyone say that by successfully kickstarting a project that a delivery is guaranteed. It's a risk. It's an investment that may not pan out. End of story. Some things certainly will not pan out. With the sheer number of games along on kickstarter, mathematically speaking, some projects are going to fail. That said, no one can blame anyone for rattling the cage. People should rattle the cage, just not necessarily expect it to amount to anything.

Baresark:I just don't know what people are thinking. At no point did anyone say that by successfully kickstarting a project that a delivery is guaranteed. It's a risk. It's an investment that may not pan out. End of story. Some things certainly will not pan out. With the sheer number of games along on kickstarter, mathematically speaking, some projects are going to fail. That said, no one can blame anyone for rattling the cage. People should rattle the cage, just not necessarily expect it to amount to anything.

Successful or not the physical rewards could have gone out. A few thousand tshirts and USB drives would have completely filled almost every single physical reward. It boggles the mind that he didn't have those made and shipped out immediately after the KS ended.

Baresark:I just don't know what people are thinking. At no point did anyone say that by successfully kickstarting a project that a delivery is guaranteed. It's a risk. It's an investment that may not pan out. End of story. Some things certainly will not pan out. With the sheer number of games along on kickstarter, mathematically speaking, some projects are going to fail. That said, no one can blame anyone for rattling the cage. People should rattle the cage, just not necessarily expect it to amount to anything.

Successful or not the physical rewards could have gone out. A few thousand tshirts and USB drives would have completely filled almost every single physical reward. It boggles the mind that he didn't have those made and shipped out immediately after the KS ended.

That is very true. I will never understand why it takes all of these kickstarter projects that offer physical rewards months to ship these things. If that was my project, I would immediately fulfill those rewards so I know how much I had to actually work with. Also, physical rewards are a waste in my opinion because those reward tiers pull money from the actual development.